What Is Social Bookmarking And What Can it Do For You?

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Digg, Stumbleupon, Del.icio.us...you've heard people tossing these words around and singing the praises of the traffic they can bring to your website, but who are these Web 2.0 giants and what can they really do for you?

Well, first think of a time when you've been surfing the net and ran across an article or website that was so good, you thought to yourself, "Everybody should read this."

You wished there were a way you could alert the internet at large to the fact that they needed to see this website, but how could you do it? Send a massive email and ask everyone to forward it to everyone they knew? Take out an ad in the newspaper? Post the URL on the bulletin board at your local coffee shop? Hire a plane to write it in the sky?

Obviously, none of these tactics would be practical or affordable, so maybe you sent an email to a couple of friends, urging them to check it out, but you never heard back from them because it got buried in the pile of emails in their inboxes.

You may have even asked them about it a few days later, but by then, they still hadn't read it, your fervor had worn off, and you were on to the next cool thing you'd seen online.

If this scenario feels familiar to you, you're not alone. You and others like you are categorized as Mavens according to Malcolm Gladwell's marketing book, The Tipping Point. Mavens thrive on collecting and sharing new information with others. If you're not a maven yourself, you probably know one or two; characterized by the steady stream of things they are urging you to learn about.

Simply put, this brand of social networking sites are an easy way for internet mavens to tell other internet mavens with the click of a button, "Hey, I found a really cool blog entry on this really cool website and everyone who is even remotely interested in this topic should check it out!"

With one click of a button, an information maven surfing your site can see something they like, create a "bookmark" to your site, which will then alert thousands and thousands of other mavens who will be more than happy to rush over to your site and see it for themselves.

Social bookmarking sites can bring huge traffic spikes, but many experts say not to count on bookmarking traffic to click ads or even make a purchase, because, Mavens that they are, they'll descend on your site like a swarm of locusts, but retreat just as quickly--on to check out the next cool thing.

However, Mavens do have a reputation for having a good memory, and once they see a good thing, they love being able to tell others about it. So, while the initial traffic spike may not be profitable, there can be a residual benefit to having your site picked up on the social bookmarking radar.

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What Is Social Bookmarking And What Can it Do For You?

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